Vans Can Play Too!
We bring you Mike Tolliver's 2000 Honda Odyssey all the way from Seattle. Let's check out his story...
"So after buying Rotiform's A8L and driving it all winter the gas prices here in Seattle skyrocket to highest in the nation . Around April I started to look for scion xB to drive a bit more that the Audi. I’ve got two little girls I take to and from school each day and this leads to a lot of stop and go traffic. I started a hunt for a 2005 scion xB in white. I wanted a xB simply because I’m an early water-cooled VW guy and I have seven sets of 4x100 wheels that I want to utilize more."
"After a search up and down the west coast I could not find an xB to my liking or price. I was even willing to fly my buddy Paul to LA to drive one back. Well I started to look at other cheap used vans, there were a lot on the market. I noticed the Hondas seems the be the best taken care of, and this is Seattle ,there are hundreds of these body style at the local mall at one time.
"My craigslist ad alert went off the phone, one was just posted 2000 Honda Odyssey 150,000 miles , local and $3000 bucks . I emailed and called like crazy but no answer . A day later after looking at some other vans I got a call. The owner realized he had a hot ticket and upped the price to $3500 since he had 42 email within the first hour. I was one the first. I told him , 3500 cash if he can meet me in the next 20mins . A quick drive and I gave $3500 to Paul and left to get my kids from school. Later that night I drove her home."
"I put on car shows like PNW Springmeet, TheOldSchoolReunion , StanceWars , Tailored Seattle , Crafted Fitment , and many others so I’m looking for rig that take a lot folks , gear and booth stuff the event. This van does that and gets 30mpg."
" Dave Meister , Paul and I were talking . “you should bag it “. Knowing that I had the money and resources I did it. Bagriders helped us source the parts and we created a few one off parts. After the next event we all were talking again during beers and Dave and Paul and we decided to wrap the van, and if I was going that far we might as well source some wheels."
"Few weeks later after another one of our events all the parts were in house. New Telas Gray wrap and a set of vintage wheels. Then Paul’s fun started , one week to wrap and tear the van down before Slammed Society FD. Long days , some long nights and we had the wrap completed for the show. Its not fully done , but its what we had planned. All panels telas gray and pillars are black alligator . Now back to the suspension."
"Paul needed to rebuild the current struts to get the frame to meet the ground as planned.After some new inserts,some welding, and a small trip to the machine shop we had what we needed. A fast install and Paul was off to work while Dave and I cleaned up and fixed some last minute things. If you park on 2x4’s you can lay the frame past the wheels we found. Kind of an old mini-truck thing, but hella cool. It’s a must to air-out otherwise the kids can’t open the van auto sliding doors!"
Base: 2000 Honda Odyssey imported from Canada ( some cool parts because of that fact)
Color : Telas Gray Wrap
Wheels : Vintage DP Motorsport Cups 18.9.5 all the way around with et40 front, et35 rear with a H&R 35mm spacers. Classic WED lips
Air-Ride : paddle valves , 444c compressor , UAS bags front with custom VR6 corrado inserts , RE-7 bags in the back running on 1\4 lines with dual\dual gauges from Bagriders
Photographer: Mike Tolliver, Written: Mike Tolliver
